Whether it’s AirBnB, the Sharing Cities Network or Car2Go, the range of sharing economy examples is reaching a tidal flood.
What is most exciting about the Sharing Economy is its embrace of a revitalized public square and a rejuvenated commitment to social good. This is part of the Sharing Economy with the most transformative potential: the ability to address societal inequities and envision new ecological solutions.
The Sharing Economy is a great theme for a NetSquared event. You probably already have several local organizations who are working in the area who would be great panelists.
Here’s an initial list to help your brainstorm:
- Coworking offices
- Maker spaces and 3D printing groups
- Car share services
- Tool lending libraries
- Community gardens
- Service cooperatives
- Crowdfunded and Kickerstarted projects
- Online courses like Khan Academy
- Room and Home sharing services like AirBNB
- W3C
- The Internet Archive
- Open Data Institute
- Wikipedia
- Code for America
- Kiva and other micro-finance organizations
See our Sharing Economy article on TechSoup.org for more example organizations.
Questions for Panel
Once you have found a diverse panel of three to four people, it’s time to ask them some hard questions! You can start with some of these questions:
- How is the Sharing Economy transforming society?
- What tech innovation is most needed in your community?
- How has technology helped you grow the sharing economy?
- If not, what’s needed?
- What are the barriers to adoption to bringing more people into the Sharing Economy?
- Where could the Sharing Economy’s “idling capacity” be harnessed?
- What tools do you need most to match your fellow citizen’s ‘haves’ with others ‘wants’?
- Are there dangers to an expanded Sharing Economy?
- Are you ready to build new Sharing Economy start-ups owned by the people?
Read more about the sharing economy on the NetSquared blog.
